Target the Right Keywords to Attract
Qualified Buyers
By Paul J. Bruemmer ©Web-Ignite Corporation
Keyword research and selection is a critical step in your
search engine marketing campaign. It's pretty well established
that most people start with
search engines when looking for online information. We've all
typed in keyword phrases to find what we're looking for. Today,
most people use two to five keywords on average when searching.
This makes it increasingly more important to choose the
right keywords for optimizing your Web page content. Because
search engines focus on providing relevant content, Web sites
with relevant keywords on the page will rank higher than sites
that don't research and select the appropriate terms used to
search for their products and services.
10 Tips for Selecting Your Best Keywords
Why are keywords so important? Because they bring qualified
buyers to your site as people look for your products and
services through search engines. Careful selection and
placement of your strategic keywords in Web page copy and HTML
tags goes a long way toward attracting traffic that converts to
sales. Following are some tips forgenerating the keywords and
phrases most likely to boost your bottom line.
1. Think from a customer viewpoint.
What words would potential customers use when searching for
your offering? Get feedback from multiple sources by picking
the brains of your customers, suppliers, brand managers and
sales people.
2. Expand your keywords into a list of key phrases.
After brainstorming an initial list, put these terms into
WordTracker, which is a Web-based tool that provides ideas for
additional keywords by telling you how popular your keywords
are on other Web pages and how many people have searched for
these keywords in major search engines in the last 24 hours.
Your best terms are those that aren't overused but are still
fairly popular. Another trick is to use uncommon combinations.
WordTracker's Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) will tell you
the number of times your keyword appears in its database and
the number of competing Web pages. Look for keywords that might
work on your pages. A high KEI means the word is more popular
and less competitive. A KEI of 100 is fairly good, but anything
over 400 is super. Use only the keywords that describe your
offerings.
3. Create Multiple Permutations.
Vary the order of words in your phrases to create different
combinations. Use very unusual combinations. Create phrases
that ask a question. Include synonyms, word substitutes,
metaphors, and common misspellings. Include brand names and
models of products sold. Use additional qualifiers to create
more specific terms by creating two-, three-, and four-word
phrases.
For example, if broadband is one of your keywords, you might
come up with phrases like digital broadband, digital wireless
broadband, wireless digital broadband, accelerated for
broadband, broadband news, digital wireless broadband news,
broadband wireless communication, etc. From the key phrase
software solutions, try traffic analysis software solutions,
traffic analysis reports, traffic reporting tools, B2B software
solutions, e-commerce software
solutions, etc. Note that the keywords don't necessarily have
to make sense, although when you use them in copy, they must
make sense.
4. Use Concept Qualifiers to Qualify Visitors.
Specify the concept in your key phrases, such as e-commerce
software. Be specific enough so the key phrase is not too
broad, such as e-commerce software solutions, e-commerce
security solutions, business-to-business e-commerce software,
B2B e-commerce software, etc.
5. If You're Branded, Use Your Company Name.
It pays to include your company name in your keyword phrases if
you're a well known brand. A site like RadioShack should
preface its key phrases like this: RadioShack computers,
RadioShack electronic components, RadioShack telephones, etc.
If recruiting employees, it might use key phrases such as: work
for RadioShack, RadioShack jobs nationwide, and executive
RadioShack positions to recruit specific levels of employees.
However, if your name is Jack Jones Realty, very few people
will type that name in a search query unless they know you, so
it doesn't pay to include company names in keyword phrases if
you're not branded.
6. Use Geographic Location.
If your location is key, include it in your keywords. For
instance, Jack Jones Realty in Palm Springs, California, may
find Palm Springs real estate to be a useful keyword.
7. Review Your Competitors' Keywords.
It's a good idea to look up your competitors' keywords to get
ideas on some you might have missed. Don't copy anyone else's
keywords because you don't know how or why they were selected
-- you need to generate your own. Just look for an idea or two
to supplement the keywords you identify for yourself.
8. Don't Use Keywords or Phrases That Are Too Broad.
Instead, use modifiers to make generic keywords and phrases
more specific. A site offering insurance-related services might
use health insurance quotes, auto insurance quotes, life
insurance quotes, etc.
To prequalify your visitors, your keywords and phrases
should identify your niche. If you're in the entertainment
business, use entertainment news, movie trailers, celebrity
stories, entertainment center, etc. Identifying your niche
attracts the kind of traffic you need. This is important no
matter what you sell. A smaller, targeted audience is more
likely to result in conversions than a large volume of traffic
that came thinking you were selling something else.
9. Don't Use Single Words.
Multi-word phrases work better than single words. It's
difficult for search engines to return relevant results on
single-word searches because there are too many answers to such
a query, and users won't wade through hundreds of result pages.
They learn quickly to be very specific. A user looking for an
e-commerce software solution for an auction site won't be
searching for software.
10. Don't Use Trademark Names Other Than Your Own.
Stay away from competitors' trademarks in your keywords or you
might get sued. Some companies will give permission to use
their terms. An e commerce site wanting to use Tide can contact
Procter and Gamble to request permission. Permission will
depend on potential affiliation - a manufacturer will likely
give permission to use its name to promote and sell its
products on a vendor site. However, using another company's
trademark or product name to profit from its brand is
unacceptable and breaches federal trademark-protection laws.
These strategies will help point prequalified visitors to
your site. Keyword selection is one of the most important tasks
in search engine marketing, so take the time to do it right.
About The Author
Paul J. Bruemmer paul2@web-ignite.com is the CEO of Web
Ignite, a search engine marketing company founded in 1995.
Web-Ignite earned a top grade in the Buyers' Guide to
Search Engine Optimization Firms and has helped promote
over 15,000 Web sites. Client testimonials report traffic
increases of 150 to 500 percent. Bruemmer's articles have
appeared on ClickZ and other publications.
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